Page 3 : The Hinge, Speakers & Vents, Power & Battery Life, Usability

The Hinge, Speakers and Vents

Like all convertible laptops, the Dell Inspiron 13 5000 (Lowest Price) uses a special hinge. It is not just the ability to completely fold the keyboard section behind the display. The hinge also has a constant friction that allows it to be easily used to convert the Inspiron 13 5000 into four different modes.

Flipping the Inspiron 13 5000 over, you will find two small speaker ports on each side. Each speaker has a 2.5 W peak power output. Near the back is a small black label with the Service Tag and Express Service Code.

There are two rows of cooling vents at the back. This is where the warm exhaust from the CPU cooler are vented out. Both the 6th Generation Intel Core i7-6500U (Inspiron 13 5368) or the 7th Generation Intel Core i7-7500U (Inspiron 13 5378) processors use and dissipate relatively little heat – just 15 W.

 

Power & Battery Life

Powered by the low-power 6th Generation Intel Core i7-6500U (Inspiron 13 5368) or the 7th Generation Intel Core i7-7500U (Inspiron 13 5378) processor, the Dell Inspiron 13 5000 (5368 / 5378) 2-in-1 laptop (Lowest Price) sips power. Hence, it comes with a small and light 45 W power adaptor, which is always a good thing when you travel.

That said, the Dell Inspiron 13 5000 comes with a small 3-cell lithium-ion battery. As efficient as the Intel Core i7 processor may be, there is only so much battery life you can squeeze from such a small 42 Whr (2,750 mAh @ 15.2 V) battery.

In our real world tests, we could use it for 6 hours before we had to recharge it. This is decent, but a little disappointing in an age when laptops and tablets can last 8-12 hours. Dell would do well to pack in a little more battery life into the next version, especially when this battery is only rated for 300 cycles. This would mean that its battery life will fall quite rapidly after a year or so of use.

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Usability

The Dell Inspiron 13 5000 (5368 / 5378) 2-in-1 laptop (Lowest Price) is really just a smaller version of the Inspiron 15 7000 we reviewed earlier. It uses the same 2-in-1 design with the same hinges. It just comes with a plastic build, a smaller 13.3″ form factor and is consequently 25% lighter.

Even so, it is a handful to use in the tablet mode. It may be much lighter than the Inspiron 15 7000, but it still weighs 1.62 kg. You will end up using it in the regular laptop mode, or in either the tent or stand mode, where you don’t actually have to carry it.

In the non-tablet modes, it is great. Its TrueLife display with a full HD resolution (1920 x 1080) delivers bright, crisp images with a wide 160° viewing angle. Perfect for presentations or movies.

We have to wonder though about the USB 2.0 port on the right side. There is really no reason why there should still be a USB 2.0 port in any laptop sold today. In fact, Dell should have included at least one Type C USB 3.1 port.

Next Page > Performance & Storage, Our Verdict

 

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